A DRIFFIELD man pushed his ex-girlfriend into a car so hard her head smashed the rear windscreen.
Leslie James Knott, 33, pleaded guilty to assault by beating when he appeared before magistrates in Bridlington on Wednesday.
Prosecutor Emma Dann told the court his ex-girlfriend Jane Hazel Peryer arrived at Knott's home on Eastgate North on Febr
uary 12 to return some of his property and pick up a compressor that belonged to her.
An argument broke out when Knott tried to retrieve a bag of his personal documents from the back seat of the victim's car, which she had refused to hand over until her belongings had been returned.
To stop Knott getting hold of the documents the victim, who uses crutches to walk, hit him on the back with one of the crutches.
In what Ms Dann said was initially self-defence, Knott swung her round towards the back of the car and pushed her into it.
"This caused the complainant to fall backwards into the rear of the car. She banged her head on the rear windscreen, causing the windscreen to break," Ms Dann said.
She said the victim was left with a small cut to her cheek and a large, painful lump on her head. She said Knott had since accepted the force used "was over and above self-defence".
In mitigation, Mike Farr said the pair had been in a relationship for seven years until last April.
Before the split the couple lived with Knott's two children, an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old who is disabled, from a previous relationship, something which Mr Farr said "put a strain on their relationship" and created a "very demanding set of circumstances".
Mr Farr also told the court the complainant did not accept the breakdown of the relationship and wanted it to continue.
He said before the assault "there was something of a stand-off because of problems they had had in the past".
Mr Farr said Knott did not believe the documents were in the car and asked for them to be handed over before he would hand over the compressor.
He said Knott then reached into the car to check if the documents were there, which they were, on the back seat.
Mr Farr said that Knott was then struck with the crutch three times, causing him a great deal of pain, before he swung round, grabbed and pushed his ex-girlfriend into the back of the vehicle in one movement.
"But it would appear that as a result of the force of the push the complainant has struck her head on the back of the windscreen and that has smashed so there must have been some force," Mr Farr said. "He accepts his actions went too far but you could perhaps understand why he took that action," he added.
Knott was fined £100 and ordered to pay £100 compensation, court costs of £85 and a victim's surcharge of £15.
